Hygiene and Safety Guidelines for Village, Community and Church Halls

Hygiene and Safety Guidelines for Village, Community and Church Halls

This guidance has been produced to provide information for those running village, community and church halls about some of the requirements of the food hygiene legislation (Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regs 2013, and to outline some good food hygiene practices. It also includes some basic information on health and safety legislation. Please note the guidance covers only the minimum standards for food premises operating in the Eden District Council area.

Further information on food hygiene and safety is available from the Food, Health and Safety Section. See contact details below. It may be useful to look at ‘Food Hygiene - a Guide for Businesses’ and ‘Starting Up - Your First Steps to Running a Catering Business’, which are publications from the Food Standards Agency. Copies can be obtained from the Food Standards Agency website (www.food.gov.uk/aboutus/publications/safetyandhygiene) or from The Food, Health and Safety Team at Eden District Council. There is also the Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice for Catering Businesses which is available from Chadwick House Group, Chadwick Court, 15 Hatfields, London, SE1 8DJ, telephone 020 7827 5882.

Registration as a Food Business

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 Article 6(2) requires food business operators to register each establishment under their control with the local Environmental Health Department, at least twenty-eight days before opening. Nearly all business types will need to be registered, including restaurants, hotels, cafes, shops, supermarkets, staff canteens, kitchens in offices, warehouses, guest houses, delivery vehicles, buffet cars on trains, market and other stalls, hot dog and ice cream vans, etc. There is no fee to register and a registration form is available on request or on line at www.eden.gov.uk.

Licences

A licence will be required to do the following things:

• sell or supply alcohol
• sell hot food between 11pm and 5am
• provide entertainment, such as theatre, cinema or live music
• sell food from a stall or van on certain, designated streets

Businesses should contact the Council’s Licensing Department
(01768 817817) or Food, Health and Safety team (01768 212491) for more information on licensing.

But Is Your Village Hall A Food Business?

Many village halls technically don’t operate as food businesses. The village hall committee may let the hall to individual organisations which run food businesses from the village hall, but they don’t actually run a food business from there themselves. For example, if the village hall committee lets the hall to Age Concern, which puts on a lunch club for residents in the area, then Age Concern would be the food business operator, not the village hall committee. However, if the village hall committee ran a lunch club each month then the village hall committee would be the food business operator. In the first instance, Age Concern would need to register with the local authority as the food business operator, but in the second case, it would be the village hall.

Also, how frequently events take place affect whether the village hall should be regarded as a food business or not. An annual dinner at Christmas wouldn’t be classed as running a food business, because it’s just a one off, but a monthly lunch would. So if the village hall committee runs the odd event during the year, that wouldn’t be a food business, but events organised on a regular and frequent basis would.

Obviously the village hall committee would want to ensure that any food they served, whether for a one off event or a regular thing, was safe to eat and they wouldn’t want to put people’s health and safety at risk, so they would want to comply with good food hygiene and health and safety practice.

All of the organisations using the village hall for their food businesses need to register with the local authority, so there might be several registrations for one village hall.

If Our Village Hall Is A Food Business….

Eden District Council has produced a range of guidance notes to help to comply with the food legislation which applies to different activities. These are listed below:

• Catering and Other Food Preparation Facilities
• Retail Shops
• Food Vending Vehicles
• Food Stalls and Marquees (including Food Stalls at Farmers’ Markets)
• Bed and Breakfast Establishments and Guest Houses
• Childminders and Nurseries
• Community Buildings
• Guidance on HACCP for Larger Caterers and Retailers
• HACCP Options for Food Businesses
• Producing a HACCP System
• Guidance on HACCP for Food Manufacturers
• Guidance on Temperature Control in Food Premises
• Guidance on Safer Cooked Meat Production
• Guidance on Fitness for Work for Food Handlers

The guidance can be obtained from the Council’s website at www.eden.gov.uk

So if the village hall committee is running a lunch club on a regular basis it may be useful to read through the guidance on Catering and Other Food Preparation Facilities. This provides comprehensive advice on food handling, food safety management systems, structural requirements for food rooms, personal hygiene for food handlers, training, pest control and so on. It maybe helpful to go through the guidance on catering if only a Christmas lunch is cooked.

Basic Requirements for Food Businesses

Set out below are some of the basic requirements for any food business:

• Floors must be in good condition, non-absorbent, non-slip and easily cleaned.
• Walls must be smooth, non-absorbent, non-flaking and easily cleaned. Gloss or vinyl paint on smooth plaster is acceptable.
• Ceilings mustbe designed to prevent the accumulation of dirt, reduce condensation, prevent the growth of moulds and prevent the shedding of particles.
• Any woodwork (e.g. window frames, shelves, doors) mustbe sealed (e.g. painted or varnished) to allow cleaning.
• Work surfaces must be impervious and easy to clean with no gaps or crevices at the sides, back or joins. There should be no open chiboard visible, it should be sealed so that it is easy to clean.
• Drainage facilities mustbe capable of carrying away the amount of waste water produced and mustbe designed and constructed to avoid the risk of contamination. Waste pipes need water traps to prevent odours getting into food rooms. It may be necessary to install a grease trap. The Council’s Building Control Department can advise on this.
• A suitably located wash hand basin must be provided in the food preparation area, supplied with hot and cold water, soap and drying facilities. Please contact this department if you require any advice on this matter.
• Suitable facilities, like sinks or dishwashersmust be provided to clean and disinfect all tools and equipment that come into contact with food. These units must be supplied with hot and cold water. Please contact this department if you require any advice on this matter.
• There mustbe sufficient ventilation to prevent heat and steam build up and to remove odours. Natural ventilation will usually be sufficient but halls that are more frequently used may need additional mechanical ventilation.
• There mustbe adequate lighting, either natural (daylight) and/or artificial (electric light).
• Food waste and other refuse must be deposited in closable containers, preferably pedal bins. Waste should not be allowed to accumulate in the kitchen or left overnight but should be transferred into dustbins with lids. Arrangements should be made for the regular removal of waste from the site.
• Perishable foods will need to be kept safely (see below for details) so a refrigerator (or maybe more than one) will usually need to be provided. A freezer may be need as well.
• The structure of and equipment in any food preparation or service areas must be kept clean.Cleaning before and after the facilities are used is usually adequate but it may be necessary to arrange for deep cleaning or spring cleaning for areas such as behind cookers, inside cupboards and ventilation hoods, and the higher parts of walls.
• Food businesses must make sure that any staff who handle food are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene in a way that is appropriate for the work they do.
  The person or people responsible for developing and maintaining the business’s food safety management procedures, based on the principles of HACCP (see Food Safety Management Procedures on page 6) must have received adequate training to enable them to do this.
  Packs produced by the FSA, or industry guides to good hygiene practice, can be used for training purposes.
  Food business operators and their staff do not have to attend a formal course but many food handlers have found attending short basic food hygiene courses run by education establishments and private training companies have helped them get a clearer understanding of safe food handling practices.
  Such courses have the added advantage of giving food handlers the opportunity to ask questions on things they are not sure about. Certificates are usually awarded on successful completion of courses. There are a number of on line courses available also.
  A list of trainers delivering food hygiene courses can be found on the council’s website.

Regular Large Scale Catering

Kitchens where regular large scale catering is carried out will have to meet higher standards. Additional matters to consider include mechanical ventilation, increased provision of sinks, more comprehensive food safety management procedures, provision of additional chilled/frozen storage, monitoring of fridge, freezer and cooked food temperatures. Please contact this department for further advice.

Training

Staff who prepare open high risk foods or handlefood and have a supervisory role should have training to a level equivalent to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Foundation Level Food Hygiene Certificate. Details of organisations that provide food hygiene training can be obtained from the Food, Health and Safety Team (see below for contact details).

Toilet Facilities

Adequate numbers of flush lavatories, connected to an effective drainage system, must be provided.

On 2 November 1995 the Council formally adopted the provisions of Section 20 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976, together with the following standards:

Ladies / WCs / 1 per 25
WHBs / 1 per 25 up to 100, 1 per 100 thereafter
Gents / Urinals / 1 per 25
WCs / 1 per 100 up to 400, 1 per 250 thereafter
WHBs / 1 per 25 up to 100, 1 per 100 thereafter

Within new buildings, sanitary accommodation for the disabled must be provided (contact Council’s Access Officer, (01768) 212159)

The standard will apply to both licensed and unlicensed premises and assumes equal numbers of men and women.

In unlicensed premises with a capacity of twenty covers or less, one unisex toilet and a wash hand basin is acceptable.

Wash hand basins must be provided with hot and cold water, properly plumbed in and connected to the drainage system.

The standard will apply to new buildings and premises being converted to places of refreshment for the first time. In respect of existing premises undergoing major alteration or improvement work it is proposed that the standards will form the basis of discussion with the respective developers in order to determine the appropriate standards for that development.

The requirement to provide sanitary provision will apply in all places of refreshment, not withstanding the type of meal served, the number of covers or the presence of public conveniences within close proximity to the premises.

Toilets must not open directly into rooms where you handle food. There needs to be an intervening space, a lobby between the toilet compartment and the food room.

Guidance For Those Hiring Village Halls

Attached is a copy of the Council’s Guidance for Catering in Village Halls which it maybe useful to provide to hirers, along with other rules and conditions given to them.

Health and Safety Topics

Overall Responsibility for Health and Safety

The main piece of health and safety legislation is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This sets out the general duties which employers, the self-employed, and people in control of premises have towards their employees, and others who could be affected by their work activities. It also gives employees the general duty to ensure the health and safety of themselves and each other.

The responsibility for the safe condition, maintenance and use of the hall lies with the person in ultimate control of the building, which may be the committee, the building owner or the landlord. Event organisers may also be responsible for ensuring that those attending use the hall safely. It is important that hall hirers are given sufficient information and instruction about the safe use of the hall. Both those letting the hall and those hiring it will need to have regard to the following, in varying degrees.

Risk Assessments

A risk assessment is a careful examination of what, in an activity, could cause harm to people. It helps to assess whether enough precautions are being taken or if more needs to be done to prevent harm. A 5 step approach to risk assessment is recommended;

1.Identify the hazards.

2.Decide who might be harmed, and how.

3.For each hazard evaluate the chance, big or small, of harm actually being done and whether existing precautions are adequate or more should be done.

4.Record the significant findings of the risk assessment, e.g. the main risks and the measures taken to deal with them.

5.Review assessment from time to time, and revise if necessary

The significant findings of risk assessments need only be documented by law if there are 5 or more people at work in the hall. Therefore, some halls won’t need to document their risk assessments. However, it is good practice to do so, and can be helpful if an accident or problem should occur.

A simple risk assessment form and guidelines on carrying out an assessment can be obtained from the Food, Health and Safety team at Eden District Council.

First Aid

It is not a legal requirement for low risk premises to have a qualified first aider. However, they can prove extremely useful. The minimum requirement is to appoint a person to take charge of the first aid arrangements, including looking after the equipment and facilities and calling the emergency services as required. Arrangements should be made for an appointed person to be available to undertakethese duties at all times. As an appointed person is not a first aider they should not attempt to give first aid for which they have not been trained. All premises must have a first aid box and equipment. Equipment in the box will vary depending on the establishment. For guidance on what to include in a first aid boxplease contact this department.

Accident Recording

All accidents should be recorded in an accident book which allows previous completed details to be kept confidential, for instance the new B510 accident book. This should be kept on the premises. Also, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) it is a legal requirement for certain incidents to be reported on a standard form (F2508), or by telephone to the Incident Contact Centre. For details of the injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences that must be reported, a copy of the standard form or contact details of the Incident Contact Centre please contact this department.

Manual Handling

Some of the equipment and stock which has to be lifted and moved in village halls can be heavy, laying out bowling mats for example. When looking at these manual handling tasks, consideration should be given to the whole task, rather than just lifting. Things such as lifting loads away from the body, excessive vertical lifts, twisting, stooping, pulling, pushing (these things relating to “the task”), heavy, bulky, unstable items (these things relate to “the load”),the working environment and the individual’s capabilityneed to be taken into account when deciding how to move something.

When managing risk from manual handling there are three key steps to take;

1.avoid the need for manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable;

2.assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling that can’t be avoided; and

3.reduce the risk of injury from manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable.

The leaflet “Getting to grips with manual handling – A short guide” provides useful information on assessing and reducing risk from manual handling. Copies can be obtained from the HSE website or the Food, Health and Safety team.

Slips and Trips

Recent statistics have shown that slips, trips and falls on the same level account for over a third of all injuries reported to the HSE and local authorities. Such injuries may be prevented by assessing risk and taking simple, cost-effective steps such as the following:

• Use slip resistant surfaces, gratings or put down mats in areas prone to contamination, for instance at access doors when the weather is wet.
• Clean up spillages, spilled drinks for example, promptly and use a dry mop instead of wet mopping as it cleans up spills faster.
• Floors and shoes should be slip resistant as far as possible.
• Floors should be even and free from holes.
• Gangways should be well marked and lit and access routes free from trip hazards, e.g. trailing cables.
• Stairs should be well constructed and lit and fitted with handrails.
• Any changes in floor level should be clearly differentiated, for instance many places have white edging around the edge of stages.

Electrical Safety

Poor electrical installations and faulty equipment can lead to fires, injuries and even death. It is recommended that those in control of the hall (committee) arrange for the electrical installation to be checked by a competent person every 5 years (or such other time that the contractor specifies). It is also recommended that routine, periodic checks should be carried out of all portable electrical equipment (e.g. kettles, lamps, heaters, etc.) annually by a competent and responsible person. The installation check and Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) should be recorded. Anything with faults should be taken out of use until made safe for use.